Men's Basketball: US Beats Argentina, Advances to Semifinals

The U.S. moves on to play Spain

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USA's Kevin Durant reacts during a men's quarterfinal basketball match between USA and Argentina at the Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 17, 2016, during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The U.S. men's basketball team powered into the semifinals of the Olympics, beating Argentina 105-78 on Wednesday night.

Emphatically ending a stretch of three straight close games, the Americans turned a slow start into an early ending with a 27-2 run in the first half.

They will meet Spain on Friday in a rematch of the last two gold-medal games. Spain beat France 92-67 earlier Wednesday.

Kevin Durant scored 27 points for the Americans.

Luis Scola scored 15 points and Manu Ginobili had 14 for Argentina in what's expected to the final time the remaining core members of its Golden Generation play together.

Ginobili was taken out in the last few minutes of the game and saluted by the fans, then embraced by each of his teammates on the bench. After the teams headed to their locker rooms, Ginobili returned and was presented the game ball by an Olympic official.

Spain was in danger of missing the quarterfinals after opening the Rio Games 0-2. But it recovered with three wins, including a 50-point rout of Lithuania and 19-point thumping of Argentina to advance.

Now the Spaniards not only have a shot at a medal, but maybe another crack at the U.S., which has beaten them in the gold-medal game in the past two Olympics. The Americans meet Argentina in another quarterfinal with the winner facing Spain on Friday.

France's Tony Parker scored 14 in what could be his final Olympic game. The 34-year-old returned after sitting out a three-point loss to the Americans with a toe injury.

Australia Beats LithuaniaAustralia moved closer to its first Olympic medal in men's basketball by clobbering long-time nemesis Lithuania 90-64 on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

Patty Mills scored 24 points and Matthew Dellavedova 15 for the Aussies, who have been as impressive as any team in Brazil and are gaining confidence with every trip onto the Carioca Arena floor. Australia's only loss in these games was by 10 to the U.S. in the preliminary round.

The Boomers, as they are known Down Under, have finished fourth three times and were twice beaten by Lithuania (1996 and 2000) in the bronze-medal game.